Pilot door latch and operating means



Nay. 18, 1947.

H. H. WOLFE PILOT DOOR LATCH AND OPERATING MEANS Filed June 19, 1944 s Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 18, 1947. H. H. WOLFE.

' PILOT DOOR LATCH AND OPERATING MEANS Filed June 19, 1944 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 II I I;

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Nov. 18, 1947. H. H. WOLFE 2,430,901

PILOT DOOR LATCH AND OPERATING MEANS Filed June 19, 1944 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Nov. 18, 1947 PILOT noon LATCH AND OPERATING MEANS Harry H. Wolfe, Columbus, Ohio, assignor to The Buckeye Steel Castings Company, Columbus,

Ohio

ApplicationJune 19, 1944, Serial No. 540,949

7 Claims. 1

This invention relates to improvements in combined latch and operating means for pilot doors, and more particularly to such means employed in iz ognnection with the couplers of locomotives or the Locomotive pilots having retractable couplers are known, in which a pilot door rigidly united with a coupler pocket swings concentric with the coupler swivel pin. When the door is moved to open position, the coupler is automatically brought to coupling position, and when the door is closed, the coupler is retracted into the pilot.

Heretofore, it has been necessary to unlatch the door when in the closed position and hold the latch open while moving the door to open position, and then relatch the door and vice versa. Due to the location of the latch or latch pin, it has generally required two men to perform this operation, one to hold the latch in unlatched position,whi1e the other moved the door.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a means enabling one man to handle the latch and move the door into either open or closed position. In accordance with the invention, the latch handle is conveniently located when the door is either open or closed, and after the latch is moved to unlatched position and the door is moved slightly, it is unnecessary for the operator to hold the latch in retracted position, as the structure is such that the latch will be automatically moved int-o latching position whether the door is moved to open or closed position,

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel structure including a latch handle that can be used to release the latch and subsequently move the door. In accordance with the invention, the latch is preferably spring-operated whereby when the door is fully opened or fully closed, the latch will be automatically projected to latched position, and the same latch may be employed to hold the door in either open or closed position.

Further objects will be apparent from a reading of the following description and claims and from a consideration of the accompanying drawings, showing an embodiment of my invention, in which:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a pilot provided with a coupler and door of the type to which I have applied my improvements. In this view the door is shown in open position and the coupler is shown in coupling position. The coupler is also shown in retracted position in dotted lines.

2 is a vertical sectional view taken on the Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of the pilot with the door in open position, certain parts being omitted to facilitate illustration.

Fig. 4 is an end view of the door.

Figs. 5 and 6 are vertical sectional views, respectively, taken on the lines 55 and 6-6 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 7 is a top plan view of the latch lifter.

Fig. 8 is a horizontal sectional View taken on the line 88 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 9 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 9-9 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, l0 designates a pilot having a doorway ll opening into a compartment l2. A vertical pivot pin l3 extends from the top to the bottom of said compartment and serves as a journal for a door [4. The latter is provided at its rear with a pocket IE to receive the shank l6 of acoupler l1, swiveled on the pin I3.

When the coupler is not in use, it is housed within the compartment l2 as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. l, rearwardly of the door l4, but when the door is in open position, as shown in full lines in this figure, the coupler projects forwardly from the pivot pin l3, as will be obvious.

In accordance with the present invention, the

door (Fig. 5) is provided at its rear with upper and lower guides l8 and I9 for an upwardly and downwardly movable bolt 20. The latter is preferably urged downwardly by a spring or springs 2l,-positioned between a portion of the guide l8 and a shoulder 22 of the bolt. At one side the bolt is provided with a notch 23 for the reception of a portion of a latch lifter 24, pivotally connected at one end at 25 to a rivet 26 for movement about a substantially horizontal axis and provided at its opposite. end with a thickened part 21, forming a handle. The rivet 26 passes through a plate 28 that may be welded to the back f the door to form with the latter a bracket for the mounting of the lifter.

As shown in Fig. 4, the door is provided at one end with a substantially vertical slot 29 in which the lifter moves, and normally the lifter rests at the bottom of the slot, as indicated at 30.

Referring to Fig. 5 which shows the latch holding the door in closed position, it will be noted that the bolt is provided at its bottom with a chamfered surface 3i adapted to coact with a complementary stationary surface 32 of the pilot I!) to automatically raise the bolt 20 when the door is moved into closed position. The bolt has another chamfered surface 33 at its bottom, ar-

ranged at to the surface 3| and, adapted to coact with another chamfered surface 34 on the pilot for automatically raising the bolt when the door is moved to open position.

To facilitate smooth working of the lifter and latch, I prefer that the lifter be provided with a convex hump 35 positioned in the notch 23 and adapted to slidably engage the upper end 36 of the notch.

When the door is moved into open position, an abutment surface 31 thereof will abut the lower left corner of the doorway, whereas whenthedoor is in closed position, the upper right corner 33 of the door (Fig. 9) will abut a stop 39 of the pilot Ill.

To open the pilot door solas to move thelcoupler to operating position, handle 2'! is raised and lifter 24 pivots on rivet 26. Hump 3,5 of theli-fter contacts the upper end 36 of the notch in the bolt, compressing springs 2|, and releasing the .bolt from the slot 40 (Fig. 5,) of the pilot. The door tmayinow he swlilng about ;the;axis of the ;-pivot 13 into open .position ,andevem-though the lifter at this time may be in :itslowenmostgposition,;as the door nears its fulltopen positionsthe bolt will rise due te -the actionof ,chamier .3.3 :,on chamfer v-34. As itlie door reaches fully opened ,position, .the abutment 3'! will strike the left side of the doorway of.the,pil,o.t and the-boltwill be in position to .drop ,into Islot 41., .thus latching the ,door in .Open position.

To close thedoor, the .lifterisaga'in raiscdso as to elevate the bolt and the door ,isrthen swung to .closed position, during which operation chamfer .3] .on .the bolt will climb chamfer 32 on the pilot, and when the .llpper right-hand corner 3'3 of the door strikesstw f3 9 on the 'pil0t,-the bolt will be imposition todropinto the opening iila'nd thus jlatchthedoorfin closed position.

From'the foregoing, ,it .is believed that the. construction, operation and advantages of my improved latching and door operating means may -be readily understood, and I am aware that changes may be made in the details disclosed without-departing from-the spirit'of the invention as expressed in the-claims.

What I claim and "desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

=1. In-a pilot of the type having a coupler receiving pocket "and a door for closing the same, the improvement comprising a substantially vertically movable bolt carried by the door and adapted by downward movement to latch the doorto the pilot in either open or closed position, and an operating member for the bolt accessible from the front of-the door, arranged in its entirety rear-wardly of the frontface of the door and serving :as a' handle bywhich the door may be moved toeither open or 'closedposition.

2. In a structure of the kind claimed in claim 1, means independent of the operating member for yieldingly moving the bolt downwardly.

3. A structure as claimed in claim 1, including cooperating means on the bolt and pilot for moving the bolt into retracted position.

4. .A-structureas claimed in claim 1, in which the-bolt normally projects from the bottom of the door and there is cooperating means on the bolt and pilot for moving the bolt into retracted position when the door is moved to one of its ex- .treme positions.

5. A structure as claimed in claim 1, in which the operating member is pivotally mounted for movement about a horizontal axis and is provided with a curved hump engageable with the bolt for moving the latter upwardly.

6. A structure as claimed in claim 1, in which the bolt is provided with a notch and the operating member if pivotally connected to the door andhas a portion of less height than the notch extending through the latter.

5?. In a pilotof the-type having a ,coupler receiving pocket and .a door for closing the same, the improvement comprising guides carried atthc ,rear of the door, an upwardly and downwardly .movable-boltguided by said guides and engageable withv the pilot, by downward movementflfor latching the door, spring means-cooperating with .the bolt for .yieldingly urging it downwardly into latching position, saidbolt .being provided witha notch, and an operating member for the bolt pivotally connected to the door andhaving apertion of less height than the notch extending through the latter, said operating member being accessible'from the front of the door, .arrangedin its entirety rearwardly of the front face of ,the door and serving as a handle by which the door may be moved to either open or closed position, said door'being provided at one,side edgeportion with a recess and with a substantially vertical slot through which'the operating member-extends into said recess.

HARRY H. WOLFE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,198,641 Ledward, Sr Sept. 19, 1916 1,604,540 Taggart, Jr .Oct. 28, 1926 2,287,954 Wolfe June 30, 1942 1,436,892 Morse et al. Nov.'2 8, 1922 1,379,997 MacMinn et a1 May 31, 1921 

